The folks who will feel the sting of Trudeau’s casual cattiness are those who can least afford to and who will feel it in life-altering ways
It is a legitimate consideration that Justin Trudeau getting caught on camera apparently gossiping about Donald Trump with Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson could be harmful for Canada, Trump not being known for his measured reactions to perceived slights. And while I concur with Trudeau that, generally speaking, Canada’s relationship with the United States remains extremely strong (and really what else could Trudeau say, the evidence of his fun-poking at the U.S. president plain for all to see, and being discovered sniggering at the back of the class never the best look on anyone), it’s not an exaggeration to imagine that Trudeau’s inability to guard his derision of Trump in public might affect real Canadians.
Everything is relative and we needn’t expect a repeat of the War of 1812. But there are so many subtle ways in which a cranky United States can make life more difficult for us, even without any formal policy changes.
What I see in the news today (aside from Trudeau, Macron and Johnson’s Mean Girls moment) is that the United States has doubled the number of five-year bans it has issued on travellers trying to enter the country by land from Canada. These are discretionary decisions. U.S. border officers make them and they’re not subject to official appeal — they are known as expedited removals, which means you don’t get a hearing, and trying to get a waiver after the fact takes lawyers and, even worse, lawyers’ fees.
It is these sorts of interactions — mundane and minor to everyone but the affected travellers — that can take on a whole different tone when tension exists between the administrations of neighbouring countries, a slight tendency to withhold the benefit of the doubt creeping in when U.S. authorities must make a choice about a Canadian. (It’s worth noting that borders are the worst when it comes to being subject to the whims and foibles of individual agents, regardless of nationality, so this is not necessarily evidence of a distinctively poor American setup.)
full story at https://nationalpost.com/opinion/marni-soupcoff-trudeaus-gaffe-will-have-impacts-well-never-hear-about?video_autoplay=true